The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-12-16
THE SURPLUS PROBLEM.

| IN His Annual Report-Secretary Endi-
colt and Attorney General Garland Give
! Accounts of Their Stewardships.
! WASHINGTON, Dec. 6.-The Secretary of the
Treasury in his annual report submitted to Con-
| gress says that the total ordinary receipts of
| the Government for the year ended June 80,
1887, were $751; 403 277, and that the total orai.
| nary expenditures were S3l5S35. 428 leav-
| ing surplus of s55.567, $40. which, with an
| amount drawn from the cash balance in the
| Treasury of s24. 455,72G, makes total surplus
of $50. 023 $40. which was offered to the redemp-
ton of bonds. The receipts for the year show
| an increase of s3i,963,550 over the
| year before. and the expenditures
/ show an increase of SIS. 1901. For
| the present year the revenues are
estimated at $685.. 000 900 and the expenditures
| s315,SlHiS5, leaving an estimated surplus of
| s66, 1S,.214 June 80, 1888. The Secretary esti.
mates the surplus for the year 1899 at sj6, 469,-
206. In regard to the surplus revenue, the SEQ
| rotary says:
Taxation and currency reform were the
| questions which my distinguished predecessor
| deemed to be of the most pressing importance,
| and TO them he devoted large part of the
| two annual reports which he made to the Con-
| gress find the same subjects to be still the
most important of all these to which
! it is my duty to call your attention, and
| it is not necessary to do otherwise than follow
| the general lines laid down by him in treating
| them. Circumstances have heightened the
| immediate urgency of taxation reform as affect
| ing the surplus revenues of the Government
| The urgency IS so great that the question of
surplus revenues demands the earnest attention
| of both the legislative and executive branches
| of the Government"
| The Secretary then gives the following ways
| In which the receipts and expenditures of the
| Government may be made about equal:
VI The purchase of the interest bearing debt
| of the Government.
| 90. Large expenditures by Government for
| other purposes than the purchase of bonds, so
| that they shall each year equal the taxation OF
| that year.
SO. Reduction of the revenue from taxation
to the amount actually required to meet neces-
| sary expenses
| "All of these eXpedients have in common
| the one merit of preventing the arrangement
| to business which must follow boarding or lock-
| Ing up in the Treasury the circulating medium
| OF the people"
In regard to the first plan the Secretary
| agrees with what the President in his message
said on the same subject. He then says:
ST can not believe that it will adopt the sec
| ond expedient, viz: the enlargement of Gov
eminent expenses simply to expend money
raised by taxation when the public veal does
not otherwise call for the expenditure
Reduction of the revenue from tax
| ton is the only fit remedy for the
| evils that threaten the country This
may be accomplished in various ways. One
is to reduce or abolish internal revenue
| taxation. In favor of this is the fact that in
small part of the Southern States the internal
+ tax on liquors and tobacco is thought to be OPP
pressive and is odious to the people of those re-
| gions; and the further fact that by it's reduc-
| ton the expenses of its collection might be
somewhat reduced
| The third eXDedient ia 6iscuccn6 at creat
length, the decrease of revenue from customs
| by increasing duties to an almost prohibitive
| extent being disposed Of summarily. The Sec
| rotary says that the objection to internal taxa
| ton on the ground that it began during
| the war, and, therefore, is q war measure,
| is not in reality an objection He
| disposes of the abolition of the internal
tax by saying: ITO do away with
| the whole revenue from internal taxes at pres
| ent would so diminish the revenues that it
would be necessary either to lay duties on arti-
cles of importation now free, such as tea and
coffee, or to suspend the sinking fund require
| ment and also materially diminish other ex-
| penses of government"
The Secretary recommends again the ANAL
| gamation of the collection of customs dues and
| internal taxes and the passage by Congress of
| the bill introduced two years ago and known as
the administration bill" revising the rules
| and regulations imposing and collecting i'm
| port taxes
''The surplus in the Treasury on December
amounted to $50, 1858, 701 and the Secretary esti-
mates that it VIII aggregate Sl40,0000OO on
| June 80 next. On this point the Secretary
| says: "One use which can be made of this
| money is to diminish taxation to such an eX-
tent that the annual revenue will he less,
/ for some years to come, than the appro-
| priations; thus the accumulated surplus
/ would be used for ordinary expenses, and the
i r1in oct h1a nod
| for it. Doubtless, by the time this money was
| spent in the pursuance of this plan the reve-
| nues would have so increased as to be equal to
| the proper annual expenses. Experience
i teaches that this would probably be the case.
I In the meantime portion of this
money could lie in banks, where it
| would be available for the business of the
country and, as upon withdrawal from them
it would at once be returned to the channels of
| business through Government payments, no
shock would be caused by such withdrawal
| The recommendations for revenue reform are
| SIMPLY rehash of the Presidents message, or
rather were exhausted in that document
| After deducting the gold and silver coin held
| for the gold and silver certificates in circula-
| ton, it is found that the Government owned
| $50, S27, S9S less gold coin and 39,67576j less
standard silver dollars on Nov. T. 1887 than it
| did on July /, 1886; during the intervening
| period 43,3S6,S7 standard silver dollars were
| coined AS there is still so much coined gold
owned by the Government (SS2, 657, 800 Nov.
| 1857 it has been thought best to allow the
| gold to accumulate in the form of bullion until
! there is need of gold coin.
| The statements of the Treasurer show that
| after deducting the demand and trust liabil-
| ties of the Government and the amount of
| money on deposit in National bank deposito-
ries, the net money in the Treasury vaults was
$92, 49S, 70456 June 80, 1886; October 81, 1885,
| it was $40, 459, 361.77.
| One of the most interesting facts shown by
| the foregoing statement is the increase in the
| number of standard silver dollars owned by the
| Government and the increased use of the same
money by the people in the form of silver GER
tificates. The S., So and II certificates furnish
| convenient currency, and it is evident that
| the future use of the silver dollar will be al
| most exclusively in that form.
| 1t is waste to coin and store any more silver
| dollars at present There is no function which
those that are coined after this time will proba-
bly, ever perform, except to lie in Govern
| ment vaults and be basis upon which
| silver certificates can be issued. 1t is
| seldom that any one wishes to have his sill
yer certificate exchanged for the silver dol
| lar itself; consequently limited number of
! coined dollars will perform the work of redeem
i ing certificates. The S214, 900 which are now
| in the treasury will more than suffice to re-
| deem, as they may be presented from time to
| time, the silver certificates that have already
| been issued or that can be issued against all
! the dollars which will be coined for years to
come under the present law.
| 1.-THE law should be so amended the report
says ''as to authorize the Secretary of the
Treasury to issue certificates against the coin
/ ing value of the bullion bought and TO coin
ouly such number of dollars as he might deem
xpedient hereafter. This would not restrict
| in the least degree the use of the silver dollar
as currency. The certificates would be equally
secure whether representing coined dollars
| lying in vaults, or representing bullion also
| lying in vaults, and which could be coined into
/ dollars.
1.-The accumulation of silver in the Treasury
beyond sufficient reserve needed to meet
any demand which may be made for it can
be prevented by fixing the amount of such
reserve and providing that when it is ex-
ceeded by say s5,G0o,00O the purchase
of bullion shall cease until the
amount held by the Government again equals
such reserve. Another plan, and somewhat SIM
liar to that recommended by my predecessor in
his last annual report would be to provide